Chancellor in Scandinavia
Sweden and Finland: Scholz expects to join NATO soon
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (left) and Magdalena Andersson, Prime Minister of Sweden, at their press conference in Stockholm. photo
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
During the Chancellor’s inaugural visit to Stockholm, the main focus will be on very serious issues such as the Ukraine war or Sweden’s entry into NATO. Scholz also treats himself to a bit of fun during his short stay.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz expects that the admission of Sweden and Finland to NATO will soon be sealed. “I’m very confident that things will go very quickly now,” said Scholz on Tuesday after a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson in Stockholm. He does not want to commit himself to dates. But he is confident that the seven of the 30 NATO countries that have not yet ratified the accession will soon do so. He expressly mentioned Turkey, which had blocked accession for a long time.
Shortly before the NATO summit in June, Sweden and Finland had reached an agreement with Ankara. The three countries signed a memorandum in which the northern Europeans expressed support for Turkey against threats to national security, among other things. Deportations should also be made easier. After the agreement, however, Turkey again demanded the extradition of terror suspects.
Andersson stressed in Stockholm that Sweden will stick to the agreement that their country has signed with Turkey. The social democrat thanked Scholz for supporting Sweden’s NATO application: “Germany has been by our side throughout this process and was one of the first countries to ratify our application.” Scholz called Sweden and Finland’s application a “historic step”. You win “two valued allies” who could strengthen NATO’s defense capabilities.
A joyride in an electric truck
In addition to the serious issues, Scholz also treated himself to a bit of fun during his inaugural visit. Andersson and he visited the truck manufacturer Scania near Stockholm together and tested electric trucks there. “For me, that was the greatest moment, driving this truck around here and arriving again,” said Scholz after a jaunt over a three-kilometer test track. “I’ve already thought about it, we’ll both be truckers now and then our future will be secured.”
The talks between the two Social Democrats also included the further use of nuclear energy in Europe. The fact that other countries wanted to continue using nuclear power were “national decisions that we neither comment on nor evaluate,” said Scholz. Andersson said: “In Sweden, nuclear energy will be part of our energy mix for a long time to come.”
Six nuclear power plants are currently in operation in the Scandinavian country. The construction of further power plants cannot be ruled out, but there are no concrete plans for this. Nuclear energy accounts for around 30 percent of Sweden’s energy production.
Scholz had already attended a summit meeting of the five northern European countries Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland in the Norwegian capital Oslo on Monday. He agreed there with the Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on even closer cooperation in the energy sector.
Norway can no longer supply natural gas
Norway is a reliable partner for Germany when it comes to gas exports, Støre said. But he also made it clear that a limit had currently been reached. “Overall, we have increased our gas exports by almost 10 percent, which is really the maximum. We will do what we can to maintain a high level together with companies.” An increase is dependent on further gas discoveries.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck said on Tuesday that he saw no setback in this. “Norway has increased its capacities a bit, but more is not possible in the short term,” said the Green politician in Berlin. He pointed out that German energy companies have every opportunity to get gas on the world market. Since the drastic reduction in Russian gas supplies to Germany, Norway has been the most important source of natural gas.
For Andersson, the SPD chancellor’s visit to Sweden comes at a good time: the social democrat is facing parliamentary elections in September. However, the Chancellor assured that his visit was not intended to help with the election campaign, but had to do with friendly relations with Sweden.